Training Log Archive: Kseniya

Day 3. Starting the day with fast O-intervals at Franklin Park. This is definitely a great exercise. My group consisted of Ethan, Evalyn and myself, and we tackled this like pros.

Farsta. Mass start, 3 loops. This did not go so well for me. Twisted my ankle on first loop and my motivation to fight decreased progressively after that, so last loop I was not moving fast at all. Got a chance to observe Emma's orienteering though, as she had the same order of the loops (3,1,2), and she definitely has good legs and confidence.

Decided to sit out the third morning exercise due to foot pain, which is now in a different spot closer to big toe. Ankle seems Ok.

Evening race at Franklin Park. This was a lot of fun; I really enjoyed it. Messed up controls 10 and 11 a bit but overall navigation was good. It was also nice to have Kristoffer pushing the pace.

Cool down and control pick up with Will.

Sprint Franklin Park - Splits

Day 2. Morning exercised by Erin at Magazine Beach. This one was designed to focus on precision and reading (and touching) necessary details (point features) on each leg.

Second training was actually quite fun. It was in a grid on a hill with bunch of controls. The map did not represent reality and the goal was to navigate the course on the map utilizing the grid. The trick was to just to tell yourself, "turn left, turn right, straight, turn left, and so on" without worrying about anything else, otherwise it was easy to mess up. Counting junctions was beneficial though. I found this exercise useful as it taught concentration and focused on specific skill in sprint, which I know I had somewhat neglected in the past.

Street-O on the streets of Cambridge. Lots and lots of pavement running.

Evening "race" at Danehy Park. Fun course on this very open sport field map. I practiced reading ahead and checking off features. I didn't push quite as hard as I could but still gave it some effort.

Sprint Danehy - Splits

Event: 2015 Boston Sprint Camp
 

And the awesome training week continues! Now switching to sprints at the Boston Sprint Camp. Alex kindly picked me up from the airport and we made in time for second training of the day.

Partner-O at Edmand's Park with Bill at first and then with Alex as well. The team had maps with different set of controls and the idea was to lead to each control while the other person follows on the map and determines location, then switch.

Edmand's park sprint race. Gave it my honest effort but could feel myself getting tired, especially on the last loop.

Sprint Edmands Park - Splits

Re-running the middle WC course this morning. Parked at the finish + second start area and jogged to the start.

Legs were definitely not feeling fresh after days of forest running but overall they felt stronger. Hit #1 no problem, said, "Yes!" and carried on, but messed up #2 by taking a different route and compensating for previous error by overrunning it. Oops. Rest of the course I greatly enjoyed, still hesitated on same controls that I made mistakes on during the WC (#6 and #8) but overall my understanding of the map greatly improved. Furthermore, I felt more like "running on waves" today. The trick was to let go of control, soften the knees and let the plush ground carry you. It is still physically challenging but at least there is progress :). My time is almost exactly same as during the race, but I wasn't pushing hard today and had no fellow Slavs to push me, then again I also didn't make that many mistakes..

After lunch on a lake and a nap I set out on my second training for today on the Ljungskile East map (1:15 scale this time). This area is a xc ski resort and has a decent trail network and not many big hills or rocks. Very nice forest. I didn't do a course but some terrain running instead, practicing not being scared of going through the marshes. I didn't want to stay out for that long and I could feel that I'm low on energy and blood sugar; managed to get a little lost on the trails trying to get back. Not to far from the parking lot though, there is an absolutely gorgeous stretch of woods that gave me goosebumps as I was running through it. It was a clean pine forest with harder ground covered in moss. Great ending to my training here in Sweden.

Training one of the day just North of Herristad / Uddevalla. There were actual control flags in the woods. Didn't do the whole course and didn't find #5. There was logging in that area, marked by h's on the map but the boundary on map is definitely not precise. I am proud that I traversed two marshes, to #4 and to #16. These lightweight new balance shoes are great for soft wet ground but again, spikes would have been better. I only saw a deer today.

C • Spikes 9

And for lunch I had this killer burger:

It was an amazing experience that I will not forget.

C • Burger! 2

Rested and digested for a bit, and set out for the second training, which was in Uddevalla, right next to a mining operation. This was very rugged terrain and much greener than drawn on the map. I'm sort of getting used to the mapping here now but "bouncing on waves", as Balter put it, is still tough.

Set out to do the Iddefjordfjella multitechnique training in Norway, designed by Halden SK. map. I almost did not find this place being on an unnamed road as per google maps. Eventually I made it to the parking spot and was very happy to practice Oing on such a nice day. I did not do the whole exercise but started with the compass-O, then the control pick, and finishing with a few other random controls. There were streamers in the woods and I greatly appreciated those, not only were they letting me know I'm in the correct spot but they also provided a sense of comfort that other orienteers have been here. It may be brave or it may be foolish to go out into the woods alone. I did bring a whistle and was hoping to not run into any large creatures while out there. Moose are common here but I didn't really educate myself as to what to do when you encounter one. When running to the second to last control on this beautiful pine + blueberry hill I saw what could be a moose sleeping place. I thought, "nice, I would have picked these quarters myself but thank goodness I did not see any moose on the course". I thought too soon. Just prior to attacking the control, there the moose was, standing in all its glory and staring at me. Needless to say I almost pooped my O-pants. I tried my best to appear not threatening, it was hard but I managed while retreating into the hillside. That thing was giant, I couldn't believe it. First moose encounter.

So regarding the terrain and mapping here. The whole forest is basically covered in blueberry bushes, moss, rocks, and marshes of various sorts. As the terrain in the middle course, this was physically demanding. It requires one to jump and push off while sinking in, but the ground is uneven and rocky, yielding a retarded sort of running style where you stumble forward and sideways instead of using momentum to go forward. The month I took off due to my foot injury definitely let itself known because it ruined my jumping and plyometric practice.
I'm sort of getting used to how things are mapped here. Not only does it depend on size of the feature but on its uniqueness. It is selective and when one understands the mapping style the features that are on the map provide enough support when orienteering. I still found myself confused a great deal and I was going very very slowly on this training.

C • moose 12

I was really tired after the first training and although I planned to do another O-session I decided to give it a rest, and just went for an exploratory jog next the lake.

C • Café Snäckan 3

Warm up for middle distance using model map.

Basically a disaster this middle race turned out to be. I was not prepared for this terrain and it got the best of me. Need to process a bit but some things that went wrong were stopping short, not understanding mapping of knolls vs small hills, not understanding mapping of open areas. The footing and rough ground was a major factor that left me feeling weak and pathetic and also took away focus from looking up at features.

I will be spending the next couple days around Munkadel and plan to re-run this course. I will not give up on myself this easy. I will try my best to conquer this terrain or maybe at least get in touch with it more. I will also reflect on life and other things being immersed in solitude. The hostel I'm staying in is right on a lake and there is a beautiful view with a sunsetting sun. The west coast of Sweden is truly wonderful (the car rental person even said "west coast, best coast", I'm not kidding).

C • West coast best coast 3

C • Awesome that you're going o... 6

Play by play analysis: Map

At the call up lines I’m calm and ready, focused and aware of what I need to do. Get the map, run to the start location but where is the start on the map? find one, nope, not the one, eventually find the right one. Scramble some contours to the start and have the plan of going through the reentrant to the left of the hill and around towards my two small hills. Make my way through the green, go up what I think is the hill but it’s too soon obviously, except that I turn left to try to find my small hills, and they’re not there and nothing is making any sense. I somehow get completely turned around and I check my compass but not diligently enough as now I’m facing south, not north. See a girl come out of the green, ok, let’s check, and damn there is the start flag. Bah! So mad at myself but at least I know where I am, took the control fine after that by going over the top of the hill just to be very safe. Mostly straight to 2, still getting used to the map. Everything just seems like it’s more contours than on the map and further away. I think this is due to rough ground taking away so much energy that you think you should be further just based on the effort you’re putting in. Anyways, slow to 3, a Ukrainian girl catches up to me and we run together to 4. She finds the trail to 4 and leaves me behind as I try to do the same. Took the trail all the way around, have no experience traversing marshes, so taking safe route. Hit 5 Ok but feel ridiculously slow and tired. Lose touch with the map on my way to 6, then stand right next to the my knoll not seeing the control, doubting my location and going down into the green. I see a Bulgarian girl who started two minutes before me, whom I wanted to catch, and who was having as bad of a race as I was.. Btw, she’s probably exactly the same height as I am, so I felt in good company :). But she goes up the reentrant to the same knoll I was just at and punches the control, followed by a Polish girl. Grr.. I decide to stick with these two but navigate myself as best as I can. I take the left route to 7 going up and down with the Polish girl while the Bulgarian goes straighter and punches the control first. She again goes straight to 8 but this time trail is faster and I take that route instead. Polish girl in front but she attacks too early. I proceed to smoothly go into the control but then get confused in what is mapped as open area and what is forest. I run right by it again getting close to the stone wall and running around stupidly along with my fellow Slavs. Eventually find the control, so that’s mistake three so far. Ok to 9, to the road crossing and attack from there. And another mistake on 10; I take the road and then try to go somewhat straight to my second big hill but then get confused by the knolls, thinking I’m running past the two and moving more up the hill than necessary. My comrades leave me behind as I scramble down the hill. So wish I had spiked shoes. On 11 I get confused by the small opening right before my actual opening; it is drawn as white forest but it was definitely open. Another Ukrainian girl (a different one) catches up to me and this time I stay with her until the end. Hit 12 smoother than her but she’s faster through the spectator control. I take the right route around olive green to go to 13 and up straight while the Ukrainian takes the left route. Straight to 14, no energy on the uphill, straight to 15. Aha, the Bulgarian is here as well, and we run to 16. These girls are faster to the last control and so I finish behind them. I manage to only beat the Bulgarian today, so sad.